The 306 mgy St. Bernard Renewables LLC renewable diesel facility co-located with the PBF Chalmette refinery in Louisiana is using the Ecofining™ process developed by Eni in cooperation with Honeywell UOP. (Photo: Eni)

Construction on PBF Energy’s 306-million-gallon-per-year renewable diesel production unit co-located with the company’s Chalmette refinery in Louisiana has reached mechanical completion, the company announced in its first-quarter financials.

The project, which includes a repurposed hydrocracker and ancillary infrastructure, has been turned over to operations.

Commissioning of the unit is underway now, company officials said.

Feedstock is being introduced this month.

Initial feedstocks used will include virgin vegetable oils, technical tallow and distillers corn oil.

The feedstock-pretreatment unit is expected to be complete in June.

Once the pretreatment unit is complete, the company expects to introduce lower carbon-intensity feedstocks.

Projected total capital costs for the renewable diesel facility and related infrastructure are expected to be in the range of $650 million to $700 million.

The total project spending to date is approximately $544 million through the end of the first quarter, the company stated.

In February, PBF Energy and the Italian refining company Eni announced they were entering into definitive agreements to partner in a 50/50 joint venture, St. Bernard Renewables LLC, which will own the Chalmette renewable diesel project.

Upon closing of the joint-venture transaction, which is expected in the second or third quarter of this year, Eni will contribute $835 million in capital, excluding working capital, plus up to an additional $50 million that is subject to the achievement of project milestones.

PBF Energy will continue to manage project execution and will serve as the operator.